At the hearings, senators treated Weaver gingerly, lobbing him sympathetic questions when he appeared before the panel Sept. 6 to tell of his ordeal. Feinstein, who has demonstrated political independence in a wide variety of issues, has provided the counterpoint for the hearings, now in their second week.

Feinstein dealt sternly with Weaver, asking whether his children wore Nazi arm bands and shouted Nazi slogans at neighbors, and eliciting the testimony that his arsenal consisted of 14 guns and 20,000 rounds of ammunition.

That approach is distinct even from those of fellow Democrats on the panel, Sens. Herbert Kohl of Wisconsin and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Both have been more willing to follow the lead of Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the subcommittee's chairman, in questioning whether Weaver was set up by an ATF undercover agent who coaxed him into selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns.

Feinstein produced a still-unreleased Justice Department review of Ruby Ridge and read significant portions into the record saying there was no entrapment of Weaver.

Weaver's 14-year-old son, Samuel, and Deputy Marshal William Degan died in a shootout on Aug. 21, 1992. The following day, an FBI sniper killed Weaver's wife Vicki and wounded Weaver and family friend Kevin Harris.

"I believe you have a very difficult mission," Feinstein told ATF Director John Magaw on Friday. "I also believe you have a very worthwhile mission."

Asked in an interview whether her interest in broader and tighter gun-control laws had influenced her point of view in the hearings, she said, "No, it has nothing to do with that. What exists in the hills of Idaho is different from what exists in the cities of America."

Feinstein said her only mission in the hearings was to get to the bottom of what happened at Ruby Ridge. "The unfortunate thing is if you don't show bias one way or another, people are going to try to assume one," she said. "I don't have any bias against Randy Weaver. I feel terribly sorry for what happened. My feeling is, "Let's find out what went wrong, and let's try to prevent it from ever happening again.' "

Feinstein described Weaver as a "fringe personality" attracted to racist and anti-Semitic beliefs. But he convinced her that he was "a good family man" who essentially wanted to be left alone to raise his family in the northern Idaho wilderness.

"What I am satisfied with to date is this: Randy Weaver did sell two illegal sawed-off shotguns, which he sawed off himself, and that he would have sold others if the money had been right there," she said. "Having said all of that, does that mean what happened should have happened? I don't think so."

At the hearings, Feinstein has been the only senator to defend restrictions on sawed-off shotguns: "As long as I'm in this body, I will fight to my dying breath to . . . control weapons in this country, because we don't need 40,000 deaths a year (from shootings)."

Last year, Feinstein was the chief sponsor of legislation to ban 19 specific models of assault weapons, legislation that was vigorously opposed by the National Rifle Association. The NRA has characterized BATF agents as